Search form

Search form

Twenty of 22 nursing homes in Orange County, Calif., had strains of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, researchers reported in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. About a quarter of swabs tested positive for MRSA, and a quarter of those tested positive for CA-MRSA.

Related Summaries

A study of 179 healthy infants showed those aged 30 days or younger were more likely than those aged 31 to 60 days to contract community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. Researchers also found that the most common diagnoses include abscess/cellulitis and pustulosis, suggesting that CA-MRSA may play a role in such conditions. The results appear in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

A study in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology found that smaller hospitals with relatively healthy but low-income populations were more likely to see community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The study evaluated MRSA isolates from 30 hospitals in Orange County, Calif. Community-associated MRSA strains made up 46% of the MRSA samples.

The implementation of a pre-emptive swab of all admitted patients, also called a search-and-destroy approach to infections, reduced methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia cases at the Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, N.C., by 58%. The approach also led to a 79% reduction in cases of MRSA central line-associated bloodstream infections, according to findings presented at the Society of Critical Care Medicine annual meeting. The findings may encourage hospitals to consider more aggressive treatments for MRSA, an expert said.

NovaDigm Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer are testing vaccines against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is showing up inside prisons, schools and day care centers. The vaccines are years away from potential approval because they are still in early trials. NovaDigm's vaccine triggers an immune system response to destroy the bacteria before it affects the body, while GSK's and Pfizer's vaccines directly attack various biological fronts.

Two new reports show emergency department staff often are MRSA carriers, which could put patients at risk of infection. In one study, nasal swabs from 105 ED staff showed 15% were positive for MRSA, including 12 nurses. A second study that included 255 workers found about 32% were positive for Staphylococcus aureus and 4.3% were positive for MRSA.